There is a consistent thread to the stories I hear employees tell when speaking of their organisation, job and relationships at work: that of the separation between themselves and the people classified as management. These stories typically refer to management as the different, distinct unfathomable other. This thread is then also mirrored when "management" tell stories of the people they have responsibility over.

It seems that we cannot get past the hierarchical metaphors used when describing these two groups of people - and they are two groups in most organisations. We refer to those "up the totem pole", "in the lofty offices", "in the inner circle", "up the organogram" and "the folk upstairs" as well as those "on the ground" and "at grass-roots level". Such imagery is the remnants of an industrial age concept where managers were literally "above" the employees in walkways set up so that they could observe and cast a power-gaze to ensure the "hands" were productive (not slacking off).  read more »